Balancing alloantigen-induced immune responses and anti-tumor immunity in transplantation: Volume II

This Research Topic is the second volume of the “Balancing Alloantigen-Induced Immune Responses and Anti-tumor Immunity in Transplantation” Community Series.
Please see Volume I here.

The efficacy of vaccination in immunocompetent individuals hinges on the coordinated interplay of innate, adaptive, regulatory, inflammatory, effector, and memory immune responses.
In contrast, vaccinating individuals who have undergone haematopoietic stem cell or solid organ transplantation, or who are receiving ongoing therapy for malignant diseases, remains a major challenge in clinical practice, particularly in paediatric populations.
The timing and extent of immune reconstitution following transplantation or antineoplastic therapy are influenced by multiple factors.


Immunocompromised status can affect all branches of the immune system, reducing vaccine efficacy and raising critical safety concerns regarding the use of live attenuated vaccines. Furthermore, certain immunological features such as original antigenic sin (OAS), antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of disease and maladaptive trained immunity may affect the safety and efficacy of vaccination in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals.


The focus of the current Volume 2 is the identification of the biological mechanisms that can drive effective immunity and protection through vaccination in individuals with compromised immunity.


Over the last eighty years or so, many models have been proposed to help us understand the mechanisms of immune activation. However, few of these models have focused on the immune response to vaccination in immunocompromised individuals. The proposal of theoretical models that account for the induction and long-term maintenance of the immune response to vaccination in immunocompromised individuals is key to improving our understanding of existing data and implementing safe, immune-based therapies for vaccine-preventable infections.


The aim of this Research Topic is to improve our understanding of the immunological mechanisms underlying vaccine responses in immunocompromised individuals, and to encourage the development of personalised vaccination strategies to protect them from life-threatening opportunistic infections.


We welcome submissions addressing the following themes, among others:


• Innate immunity and vaccination in immunocompromised individuals

• Protective or maladaptive forms of trained immunity following vaccination in immunocompromised hosts

• Adaptive immunity during the effector and memory phases of immune responses after vaccination

• Antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of disease following vaccination in immunocompromised individuals

• The impact of previous immune encounters and original antigenic sin (OAS) on responses to vaccination against rapidly evolving pathogens

• Passive immunisation strategies (e.g. hyperimmune immunoglobulin, plasma or monoclonal antibodies) are therapeutic options when vaccines are ineffective due to underlying immune compromise

• Genetic variants associated with immune response to vaccination

• Influence of microbiome variability on vaccine efficacy

• Machine learning approaches to facilitate the development of safe and efficacious vaccines, and predict vaccine-induced immune responses in immunocompromised individuals

• Identification of biomarkers that can predict and monitor vaccine safety and efficacy in immunocompromised individuals.


Manuscripts may include original research, reviews, case studies, opinions, perspectives, clinical trials and methodological papers that contribute significantly to our understanding of these areas. Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases, not accompanied by robust and relevant validation (e.g. clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo), are out of scope for this topic.